INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 34

The land of Edom” Gen. 36:16, was mountainous. It was called “the mountain of Seir.” It is a wild and rugged region, and its old capitol was Bozrah Isa 63:1. The early inhabitants of the land were Horites. They were destroyed by the Edomites Deut. 2:12. At the time of the Exodus they refused permission to the Israelites to pass through their land Num. 20:14-21, and always maintained an attitude of hostility toward them. They were conquered by David 2 Sam 8:14, and afterwards by Amaziah 2 Ch. 25:11. But they regained again their independence, and in later years, during the decline of the Jewish kingdom 2 Ki. 16:6, made war against Israel. They took part with the Chaldeans when Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem, and afterwards they invaded and held possession of the south of Palestine as far as Hebron. At length, however, Edom fell under the growing Babylonian power Jer. 27:3-6. The present desolate condition of that land is a standing testimony to the inspiration of these prophecies. After an existence as a people for above seventeen hundred years, they have utterly disappeared, and their language even is forgotten forever. In Petra, “where kings kept their court, and where nobles assembled, there no man dwells; it is given by lot to birds, and beasts, and reptiles.” God has deeded all the land of Edom to be a wildlife refuge forever.

EXPOSITION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 34

1Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.

The news for all mankind is about to be published─this was not local news but worldwide.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT AUTHENTICATE THE TEXT:

Psa 49:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:

2For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.

God is going to turn the world up-side down. The land will be emptied when God pours out his fury.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

ESTABLISH THE CERTAINTY OF THE TEXT:

Jer 25:15–17 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: Read: Isa 24:1-3

3Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

The dead bodies of soldiers will rot without a proper burial. Cholera will spread throughout the region. Scavenger birds will eat their flesh. Mountains shall stream with their blood.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

PRESENT OVERWHELMING PROOF OF THE TEXT:

Isa 14:19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet. Read: Isa 14:20; 2Ki 9:35; Eze 32:5-6

4And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.

Stars falling─sun darkened─heavens rolled together, is symbolic of the collapse of world governments. Every time a nation fell the prophets likened it to the fall of a mountain (kingdom.)

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ATTEST TO THE TEXT:

Isa 13:10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. Read: Isa 14:12; Eze 32:6-7; Joe 2:30-31; Rev 6:13-14

5For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.

When God gets finished, Idumaea (Edom) will fall under the terrible judgment of God. The following is a quote from my commentary on Amos regarding Edom. Take a trip up Mount Seir and you will see the ruins of thirty cities utterly laid waste and desolate all of these ruins lay within 3 days journey of the Red Sea. These cities and their ruins can be viewed on the internet. The Edomites have disappeared from the earth. They have not been heard from since the second century. The land that they inhabited is a God forsaken land that is occupied by animals. God gave this territory to the animals and tells us that their deed is perpetual.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ARE CONCLUSIVE AND FINAL:

Mal 1:4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. Read: Deu 32:42; Psa 137:7; Amo 1:11-12; Oba 1:1-9

6The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.

The sword was covered with blood from the slaying of lambs and goats─these animals became a feast for the army of the Chaldeans.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT RATIFY THE TEXT:

Jer 49:13 For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes. Read: Isa 63:3; Eze 39:17-20

7And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

The unicorns (wild bulls) and oxen are all victims of the army that came against Edom and the land is filled with slaughter. This scheduled sacrifice in the capital city of Bozrah and then spread into a wholesale slaughter of all their farm animals, until the land was soaked with blood.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT BEAR OUT THE TEXT:

Jer 50:27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.

8For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

This scheduled vengeance was to settle the Zion controversy.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT SPEAK VOLUMES ABOUT THE TEXT:

Isa 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

Isa 59:17-18 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.

9And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

The whole country looked like a burning inferno─the skies were black from the smoke─breathing was difficult─Babylon literally burned this place into a cinder.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT SHED LIGHT ON THE TEXT:

Psa 11:6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. Read: Deu 29:23; Luk 17:29; Jud 1:7

10It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

The fires burned day and night─no firefighters available─everyone running for their lives─25 generations later nothing is there except the remains of burned out cities. At least 30 cities in Edom is wasteland─no one travels there─the prophet calls the destruction perpetual.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT VERIFY THE TEXT:

Jer 7:20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched. Read: Eze 20:47-48; Rev 18:18

11But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.

Mal 1:3-4 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. Read: Isa 13:20-22; Zep 2:14

12They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.

The ASV reads “They shall name it No Kingdom there.” No king─no nobles─their government had collapsed. Her rulers had vanished like dew before the rays of the sun.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT CONFIRM THE TEXT:

Isa 29:20 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:

13And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.

God hated Esau and Esau hated God─this place was measured out by the eternal for desolation.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT GIVE AUTHORITIVE DATA TO THE TEXT:

Zep 2:9 Therefore as I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. Read: Isa 32:13-14; Isa 35:7; Mal 1:3

14The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.

A place where ferocious animals congregated and her castles and palaces are overrun by wild beasts and nothing growing there except sage brush and bramble bushes!

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT CARRY WEIGHT REGARDING THE TEXT:

Isa 13:21-22 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

15There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.

Screech owls and hoot owls lay their eggs and hatch their young and no human beings to bother them. God’s team surveyed the area─plotted it and deeded it to the wild animals forever!

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

Isa 30:8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:

Dan 10:21 But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince. Read: Jos 1:8; Pro 23:12

16Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.

Turn your clock back─read the history books─this divine prophesy has been fulfilled in every detail. Will you meet the challenge from the LORD to seek out of the book of the LORD and read?

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

Amo 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Mal 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

17And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

God’s hand has portioned Edom to be a wild life refuge forever. God sent his survey crew to stake it out─he has subdivided it─he has recorded the deed in this book. This land is declared a place for doleful creatures forever by the eternal.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT INDORSE THE TEXT:

Jos 18:8 And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the LORD in Shiloh.

Psa 78:55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

Act 13:19 And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot.